US President George W Bush has issued a blunt message about the choices facing Saddam Hussein.

Iraq's weapons of mass destruction are controlled by a murderous tyrant, who has already used chemical weapons to kill thousands of people

President Bush

He said that war was not imminent or unavoidable, but the Iraqi leader must either abandon weapons of mass destruction or face an American-led coalition that would disarm him.

"The time for denying, deceiving, and delaying has come to an end," Mr Bush said.

The president, speaking in Cincinnati, Ohio, also made it plain that any of Saddam Hussein's generals who followed orders to launch a chemical or biological weapons attack would face war crimes charges.

'No fingerprints'

Mr Bush set out in stark terms the threat he believed Saddam Hussein - whom he described as a "homicidal dictator addicted to weapons of mass destruction" - posed to Americans.

Bush is seeking the backing of Congress

"Iraq could decide on any given day to provide a biological or chemical weapon to a terrorist group or individual terrorists," he said. "Alliance with terrorists could allow the Iraqi regime to attack America without leaving any fingerprints."

The president said the United States did not know how close Iraq was to building a nuclear weapon, but could not afford to wait.

Correspondents say many Americans remain uneasy about the prospect of military action, but this speech was aimed more at members of Congress who will vote this week on resolutions which would give the president authority to go to war.

You [Bush] are just like a beast which wants to eat small countries

Abdul Aziz KailaniIraqi official

Egypt has responded by criticising Mr Bush's "rewriting the rules in the middle of the game", referring to US attempts to force a tough new United Nations Security Council resolution threatening military force if Baghdad backs out of its pledge to allow arms inspections.

"The important thing is to resume the work of the [UN weapons] inspectors as soon as possible," said Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher.

An Iraqi official told Reuters the speech was "full of lies and full of unreasonable argument".

"You [Bush] are just like a beast which wants to eat small countries and while you should help them you want to destroy them," said Abdul Aziz Kailani, head of the parliamentary religious affairs committee.

Senate test

Congress is expected to pass a resolution authorising Mr Bush to use
force, if necessary, against Iraq.

The Republican-dominated House of Representatives has largely supported the strongly-worded resolution Mr Bush is seeking, and is expected to vote this week.